Dragon's Lair Fans - Arcade Lifestyle
General Chat => 'Business' Area : Buy/Sell/Trade => Topic started by: Superully on July 30, 2010, 06:37:02 PM
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i've just realized that my digital multimeter has gone where a lot of digital multimeters have gone before ;)
that's why i'm looking for a replacement. on the one hand it should have all the necessary functions like an acoustic continuity test, but on the other hand it shouldn't be overloaded with buttons and functions whose name i can't even spell let alone use (electro noob alert!!!).
your recommendations are welcome NOW! :-*
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Model i dont have any advice , but if you want quality go for FLUKE :P
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+1
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Just pick one from dealextreme. They are cheap and you can read a lot of reviews for the popular models. And the free shipping should make you smile. ;) :)
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Yes, yes, get this one:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.28658
For the price of a "no name" meter you get a REAL Fluke. Note that indeed the price includes shipping.
I just ordered this logic probe (you may as well order it along for the insanely low price):
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15117
and it arrived safely and WITHOUT shipping costs !
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A scope is the best logic probe :wink:
btw andre your ms-pacman pcb and your puckman pcb is working :P
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Yes, yes, get this one:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.28658
For the price of a "no name" meter you get a REAL Fluke. Note that indeed the price includes shipping.
thx for the link, i'll get this one. have you seen that the box says "not for sale outside of china"? ;) ;) ;)
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any other items or tools i should add to my order while i'm at it? anything i could need in the future?
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i've just realized that my digital multimeter has gone where a lot of digital multimeters have gone before ;)
Ully, how it has gone? Just to prevent failures of mine :)
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don't know what happened exactly, but when i picked it up to measure something, i realized that there was a "clicking" noise inside, as if something had come loose. i opened it up and a part of the board had broken off - don't ask me how this happened, i never dropped that damn thing. perhaps the cats ... :evil:
anyway, i tried to reattach it, but it doesn't work anymore. well, the display comes on, but it doesn't measure anything at all, no continuity, no voltages. so thisi s definitely a hardware failure!
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Yes, yes, get this one:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.28658
For the price of a "no name" meter you get a REAL Fluke. Note that indeed the price includes shipping.
thx for the link, i'll get this one. have you seen that the box says "not for sale outside of china"? ;) ;) ;)
You probably won't get the Fluke lifetime guarantee with it due to that. Which is one of the strong points of the brand.
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A scope is the best logic probe :wink:
btw andre your ms-pacman pcb and your puckman pcb is working :P
Sorry for the thread-hack but WAHOOOO !!!!! THANK YOU ROBIN !!!
(Out of curiosity, what was the Ms.Pac problem ?)
I agree about the scope, but the logic probe is a (very)cheap, quick and handy device for some first diagnostics. It's also very easy to operate (no or few things to set).
@Ully: I've dropped my Flukes (ALL the employers I worked for equipped their technical stuff with Fluke's, no exception) at least several times and sometimes from a reasonable height (couple of meters). They never got damaged from it. To be honest, the meters I use(d) have a separate (yellow) rubber sleeve that goes around it to protect it. I do see some yellow rubbery looking surrounding on the Chinese Fluke, but I don't think it's a separate sleeve, however, you won't be doing any measuring at much higher than 1.50 meter I guess.
Normally the only thing that can go wrong with a DVM is when you set it up to measure current (A) and then put the leads straight onto f.i. a battery or other voltage source. The fuse inside the meter will die right away. And yes, even pro's sometimes screw up and blow a fuse (I always have a spare with me ;) ).
Yes the box mentions Not for sale outside of China. I do think that you won't get any service from a local Fluke representative, but hey, it's a Fluke. NONE of the Flukes I ever used (at least 5) ever broke down.
The only drawback against the Flukes that I use that I can see is that the batteries are penlite type. They will run a bit less long then the usual 9V block battery, but then again, those batteries last for AGES. I use the Fluke about every day (although honestly only for short periods) but I hardly ever replace a battery.
B.t.w. don't expect anything of the capacity measuring feature. My Flukes never had it and there's a reason (apart from not really needing it in my work): It says very little about a capacitor.
A bad (electrolytic) cap will probably give a reasonable (caps usually have large tolerances of about 20%) capacitance value, but the real problem with drying out caps is that the ESR (serial resistance) will increase. You can't measure that with any DVM. There are special devices to measure this.
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don't be too naive, you will probably buy counterfeit product.
explaining the "only for china market" instruction.
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Buyed a logic probe and a logic pulsar on ebay, for 5 bucks ;) (but the shipmet was 10 $ >:( ).
For the scope, can be usefull buy the usb version, with 25/30$ (shipment excluded) 2ch and other interesting carateristics.
Link http://cgi.ebay.it/2-Channel-PC-Digital-Storage-USB-Oscilloscope-Probe-CD-/120593048099?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item1c13e7e223 (http://cgi.ebay.it/2-Channel-PC-Digital-Storage-USB-Oscilloscope-Probe-CD-/120593048099?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item1c13e7e223).
My "wanted to buy" item: http://cgi.ebay.it/1pc-DC-AC-High-Voltage-Probe-HVP-40-no-meter-Taiwan-/130343796679?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e59187fc7 (http://cgi.ebay.it/1pc-DC-AC-High-Voltage-Probe-HVP-40-no-meter-Taiwan-/130343796679?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e59187fc7) ;).
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don't be too naive, you will probably buy counterfeit product.
explaining the "only for china market" instruction.
No, it is NOT a fake ! I thought exactly the same thing first, but the fact is that several people have bought and examined it and it IS a real Fluke. The whole thing is that it is AIMED at the Chinese market and _thus_ carries a lower price then compared to the rest of the world. Hence the "For Chinese market only".
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Buyed a logic probe and a logic pulsar on ebay, for 5 bucks ;) (but the shipmet was 10 $ >:( ).
For the scope, can be usefull buy the usb version, with 25/30$ (shipment excluded) 2ch and other interesting carateristics.
Link http://cgi.ebay.it/2-Channel-PC-Digital-Storage-USB-Oscilloscope-Probe-CD-/120593048099?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item1c13e7e223 (http://cgi.ebay.it/2-Channel-PC-Digital-Storage-USB-Oscilloscope-Probe-CD-/120593048099?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_BOI_Electrical_Test_Measurement_Equipment_ET&hash=item1c13e7e223).
My "wanted to buy" item: http://cgi.ebay.it/1pc-DC-AC-High-Voltage-Probe-HVP-40-no-meter-Taiwan-/130343796679?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e59187fc7 (http://cgi.ebay.it/1pc-DC-AC-High-Voltage-Probe-HVP-40-no-meter-Taiwan-/130343796679?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e59187fc7) ;).
That first item is completely worthless for our hobby (or about anything else) because it only has a sampling rate of 4 Khz !!! Hence the extremely cheap price.
Similar devices that are acceptable for use are at least ten times that price.....
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To remove any further doubt wether the Fluke 15B and 17B are genuine Fluke DVMs:
http://assets.fluke.com.cn/evtmanuals/15b17b__cmeng0000.pdf
(Please note the source of the document: fluke.com.cn, so the official (Chinese) website of Fluke.
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Coincidentally, I actually saw one today, a friend has it. Bought from that same site a few months ago.
It's a real fluke or a seriously good copy, but the construction feels weaker/lower grade. It somehow feels more "hollow", like the plastic is thinner or not braced from the inside. It's difficult to describe, but it doesn't have that rock solid feel you get from flukes usually. It doesn't feel dirt cheap like those yellow no-brand ones either though.
Apart from that it works perfectly. It didn't have the auto power-down mine has, which is a shame as it greatly improves battery life.
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That first item is completely worthless for our hobby (or about anything else) because it only has a sampling rate of 4 Khz !!! Hence the extremely cheap price.
Similar devices that are acceptable for use are at least ten times that price.....
Not really.
For the most of our hobbies, the circuit that we have are full of TTL circuit and, when some integrate did't work correctly, You can check and find it.
However, the probes, can be usefull to check the tracks of a circuit, cabels and other things.
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Dammit, don't they sell that cheap ass 15B Fluke in the EU? Here it starts with model 113 for 140 euro.
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Why not get it from Dealextreme ?
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I just ordered this logic probe (you may as well order it along for the insanely low price):
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.15117
and it arrived safely and WITHOUT shipping costs !
I personal dont like those probe's I had 1 when i was developing a system for school and it gives signals even if the are out of the range of the probe whits can lead to a wrong diagnostic. So its scope for me!